Taiwan Business Quick Take

Staff writer, with CNA

INTERNET

Fashion Web site launched

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc launched a social networking site for sharing fashion information in Taiwan yesterday to grab a bigger share of the country’s growing online shopping market. Toru Shimada, chief executive and chairman of Rakuten Asia Pte Ltd, said the company is hoping to attract at least 1 million members in the coming year to the new site, called Oshare, which means fashion-conscious in Japanese. In 2008, Taiwan became the first overseas market in which Rakuten established a presence, and the Japanese online retailer has since expanded its operations to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

LIGHTING

LED penetration rate to rise

The global market penetration rate of LED lighting will rise this year as LED technology improves and consumers grow more aware of the product, market information advisory firm LEDinside said. The LED lighting penetration rate will reach 25.7 percent this year, up from 23.7 percent last year, LEDinside said in a recent report. The steady decrease in the average price of global LED lights would also help boost the penetration rate, it said. Steady growth in the LED home lighting market has also prompted many manufacturers, especially first-tier international brands, to expand their LED distribution networks and increase the weight of LED items in their overall product mix, LEDinside said.